Arranged Marriage ✓

Chapter - Thirty-five.

Nishita.

I dragged a sharp breath in, shutting my eyes tightly. It had been only a few minutes since I cut the call with Nabiha. Her words still echoed in my ears.

I shifted to Darshan’s side which was empty on the bed, and reached to grab a photo of him that was on the bedside table. I ran my thumb on the photo. “Love”, I whispered inaudibly, “I love you”.

I placed it on the bedside table, again and get off the bed. The clock had struck at one in the morning and I was so hungry! Although, an hour ago I finished a large packet of lays chips but I was still famished!

I headed for my way to the kitchen and scanned through the fridge. The refrigerator wasn’t empty, but there wasn’t anything that was ‘ready to eat’. But then my eyes landed on a pack of chocolates. I remember buying them the other day.

I pulled off the wrapper and was about to shut the door of the freezer when my eyes landed on a bottle of beer. The last time I drank beer was in my final year of medical college. Since then I never touched alcohol.

I created a whole scene back then, after being drunk. And I had passed out that night. Now that, I was alone and if I chugged the bottle down and ended up passing out, I at least wouldn’t create a scene in front of anyone.

I remembered Remus Lupin’s wise words, “Eat. You’ll feel better”. Remus handed a chocolate bar to Harry and told him not to worry and eat it. And since then, whenever I’m worried, I eat a piece of chocolate and sometimes a whole bar, too. Depends on my mood.

I started to take a bite of the chocolate bar and finished it piece by piece. When I finished the chocolate, I uncapped the bottle of beer and gave it another thought but I stopped thinking when the liquid went down my throat.

At first I wanted to throw up whatever I gulped but quickly held myself together. And swallowed the drink. It tasted gross. And then sip by sip, I ended up finishing the entire bottle and it didn’t taste that bad. I fished out another bottle and chugged it.

I burped loudly. “Um-hm, manners, Nishita. When did you become so ill-mannered?”, I told myself what my mother would have told me at this moment, if she was here. But just because she isn’t, I am now alive.

I sat on the sofa in the hallway. I just sat motionlessly. I had nothing to do. I wanted to breakdown. Cry. Cry my lungs out, loud. But something was holding me back. Something that I call a thunderstorm inside me. The thunderstorm inside me was too calm. Just trying to find out a way to escape out of me. Swirl around.

And then suddenly, I realized Darshan was sitting in front of. With his hands on his cheeks. He looked pale. As if he was sick. But still the smile he wore was quite cheerful and welcoming. “You’re— you are not real, are you?”, I asked him.

“No.”

“Then?”, I asked.

“I’m just your imagination.”

“So, if I imagine you to do anything, will you do it?”, I asked.

“No.”

I frowned, “Why not?”.

“Because I just want you to see me.”

“Why? Why’d you want to see me?”, I asked.

“Because you wanted to see me”

“Why’d I want to see you?”, I asked.

“Come on now, Nishita! You and I both know you that you love me!”

“You do?”, I asked.

“The real Darshan doesn’t. But because I’m just a combination of your imagination and heart, I do.”

“Oh”, I said, “So he doesn’t?”

He nodded and pointed towards the gate. And suddenly the bell rang. What the actual fuck, bro! My heart skipped a beat. The bell rang again. I moved my glance away from the door and fixed it on imaginary ‘Darshan’.

“Open it, I need to go now.”

“But—”, he disappeared. I swallowed hard and gathered my shit together. I went to unlock the door and saw who it was.

Darshan.

The real Darshan.

I scratched my head and said, “This is so cute. I’m so much into you that at one in the morning, I’m expecting you to show up”.

I pulled his cheeks, guiding him in. “Imaginary Darsh, go away, please! Before I fall unconscious, get out”, I said as I welcomed him. “Whoah, get a hold on yourself, Nishi—!”, he said.

My head suddenly spinned, my vision blurred and I fell on him.
“Ss—sorry”, I mumbled and then suddenly stopped moving. “Nishi—Nishiii! Oh my god!”, I heard him say. I inaudibly whispered “I love you” to him. I knew he hadn’t heard me.

He picked me up in his arms and carried me to our bedroom…

//AUTHOR’S note: sorry for updating after nearly two weeks and also sorry for a short chapter. But I promise, the next one will be too long (😏). Here’s a little warning before you read the next chapter: the next chapter contains some explicit intense sexual 16+ content. Read at your own risk. *wink wink*//